Spur of the Moment
by Raven-moonwalker
Summary: [EdxWin] A simple Automail check up back home turns into much more as Winry is thrown into danger, and a plot that involves more than just her. Full Summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Spur of the Moment**

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After a wealthy man hires, or rather forces her to make Auto-mail for his wife, Winry finds herself in a dark twist of family corruption, with Ed the only one to help her out. But is her enemy his as well?

Read on to an ending that's both surprising (Not rolls eyes) and satisfying (At least in my opinion.)

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Okay, I'd like to point out a few things I may be doing, that could get your panties in a twist if I don't explain myself, so here.

Occasionally I'll have Al blushing, or sleeping, or doing something else that may seem a bit too human, given his state. But I would like to point out further, that I'm only doing what they do in the show. More often than not I've seen Al blush, sweat, shudder, narrow his eyes, go red with anger, and yes… I've seen him sleep. They've actually talked about it. If you think I'm delusional, I could "change a few things" but I do have all the eps on my computer so I can look back in them if I have to.

Thanks for you attention

A/N **READ THIS DAMNIT!** Ok… so after long days of searching FF I came to the conclusion that there aren't many good edXwin fics. And sadly most of the good ones haven't even been finished yet. I found so much OOCness I couldn't believe these people had ever read or watched this show! I found lemons, songfics, poetry, RoyxEd Cringe, Elricest Shudder, and one shots flying about right and left.

Because I couldn't find anything that could satisfy my Edwin cravings, I've decided to bring you something myself. My work is first off, finished. It's detailed enough not to be called a complete Marry Sue fic, and I believe I've actually managed to make the romance fairly in character, and the situations logical.

If you don't like it, that's fine with me, I did this more for myself than other people.

As for the fic itself, it's going to be like one of those random episodes in the actual series that really make no sense at all, and are just there to either lighten the mood or depress you even more.

**Spoiler info! **Yes I have seen all 51 episodes, but I really don't care, this is like the episode that never aired, and if you don't know what a Homunculus is, you may be a little lost, and if you _do_ know what they are but don't know how they're created, you're going to be even more lost. I can say that this takes place near to the end of the series though. And yes, I do know that I've done something completely illogical because "It's not like that in later episodes" Sue me. I was having fun.

**Disclaimer: **yeah yeah… I know, I know… I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, I don't really care either. I do worship the real writer though… may I one day create such twists as her!

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**Chapter 1**

* * *

"If you keep breaking it like this, I'm going to have to start charging you double!" Winry spoke through gritted teeth as she attached the last screw to Ed's arm. She hated this, every time Ed and Al came back they looked at the verge of death, and she was always the one who had to fix one of their latest mistakes.

"Maybe if you made it more durable you wouldn't have to fix it as much"

"Well maybe if you weren't such reckless idiots I wouldn't have to make your arm indestructible!" With the last word she pulled on the wrench and tightened the screw a little too hard. Ed winced.

"Sorry"

"It's okay." Ed sighed, he liked these little checkups just as much as Winry did, because it seemed that every time he came back, the situation was even more embarrassing then the last time. It was always 'What did you do this time?' 'How did you get that cut?' 'Why are there bullet marks on your auto-mail?' ect, ect. Not only was it getting tiring, but he hated to see the worried expression on Winry's face every time he stepped through the door, it was as if even though he was coming back alive and well, he was going to drop dead at any moment. Every time he left it was like he was walking to his death and she would probably never see him again.

Winry wiped her forehead, "there… I think you're good for now"

Ed tried to lift his arm, but couldn't, and found that only three of his fingers were working.

Winry looked shocked, "I can't believe you severed one of the nerve circuits! I thought you only broke the hand!"

Ed tried to look innocent, hoping that she wouldn't ask how he had managed to do that, "I haven't been able to move my hand before, but you've always been able to fix it…"

"I checked over all the circuitry, it's not how you usually break it or I would have seen it." She grumbled, "I'm going to have to start from scratch. You're gonna owe me big time for this one… I'm not even sure if I have the parts you're going to need."

Ed couldn't help but smirk; he kind of liked the idea of owing Winry, because it usually got her mind off of the other things.

"You're taking me into town tomorrow and we're going on a little shopping spree." A dark glint entered her eyes as images of sparkling new wrenches, screws, bolts, wires, and the new 41-80 hydro engine she had been dreaming about taking apart for weeks now, entered her mind.

Ed groaned when he saw the sparkles form in her eyes, tomorrow was going to be a long day…

* * *

A bowl of steaming oatmeal sat in front of Ed. As the mouth-watering smell settled in his lungs, he wondered how he had managed to be the first one up. He sighed, looking down at his spoon. It was days like this that he wished he was left handed, apparently Winry _hadn't_ had the part she had needed to fully repair his auto-mail, and she had to take the whole thing off.

He clumsily picked up the spoon with his left hand, and tried with a little difficulty to eat his breakfast. Spoon half way to his mouth Winry burst into the room, making Ed drop it with her exuberant "good morning!".

He looked down at the spoon that was now in his lap, and grumbled, "morning…" he could feel the dark circles forming under his eyes, he should have never gotten up so early.

Quickly bustling around the kitchen, Winry had failed to notice the disturbance she had caused as Ed tried to continue eating.

She sat down at the table with a glass of orange juice, a muffin and an apple. She looked at Ed with disapproval, "You're not even dressed yet!"

Ed looked up from his spoon, to notice that Winry looked like she could step out of the house at any time, she even had shoes on. He smiled and kept eating as if she hadn't mentioned anything.

"Did you hear me? We have to go soon if we want to beat the crowds."

Ed lifted a brow, "Crowds? Since when are there crowds in town? Especially at the stores you go to."

She narrowed her eyes, "Do you _want_ me to take you to Henry's?"

Ed could feel his eyes dilate, if Winry took them to Henry's he would never be able to get her out… the man's shop was like candy to Winry. He looked down at his hardly finished meal and sighed, "I'll go get dressed" It wasn't like he was going to enjoy eating anyways, he just assume fix his arm and eat to his hearts content later.

He walked towards his and Al's room just as Al was coming out.

"Brother?" Al questioned.

Ed mumbled something under his breath as he walked past Al and into their room.

In the kitchen Al sat down next to Winry who was just finishing her muffin.

"What's wrong with him?"

Winry smiled, "he's taking me shopping for parts today"

Al sweat dropped, "Oh?" he rubbed the back of his head, "you know, I would love to join you guys, but I have… other plans…"

Right then Pinako entered the kitchen with her arms crossed, "If you're going into town would you pick up some food at least?"

Winry slumped in her chair, shopping for food wasn't her favorite thing, but she quickly brightened, "I don't think we'll be able to carry everything, Ed only has one arm right now"

"Hmm?"

Winry twiddled her fingers; "He broke something in his auto-mail that I can't fix till I get the part."

Pinak's lip curled with knowing, "Are you sure we don't have the part? Or are you just making up an excuse so Ed will take you into town?"

"Auntie!"

"Mmhmm. Just don't wear him out too much, he'll have a rough night tonight as it is if you have to reconnect his arm."

* * *

_Well… at least she's happy;_ Ed reassured himself as he balanced two boxes a bag and something else he couldn't name, in one arm. He watched through a building's window as Winry sparkled over a buffet of nuts and bolts, settling finally for a pair of three in one pliers which she said were necessary for her to continue her work on a project she had been working on for some time.

Next was a quick stop by a basic mechanics shop, followed shortly by a run into a blacksmiths shop for some base metals, and then it was onto every engineer, metalworking, and even glass shop, you could find in the entire town.

Towards the end of the day Ed was happy to see that Winry was having some difficulties of her own, having as always, bitten off more than she could chew. Juggling as many bags as she was, it was a wonder they managed without the help of Al around, and yet she still insisted on going into one last shop before they headed home.

As Ed rested outside on one of the town's benches, Winry went into a small clockwork shop. She cast her eyes hungrily over the array of pocket-watches, wristwatches, and even intricate hourglasses. Every month she'd go into the shop and find something to take apart. She always told Pinako that it was easier to learn from experimentation than actual books. She related clockwork to many things in her line of business. She was working on using the mechanics for creating her own self-energized house clock.

After a few minutes in the store she found what she was looking for. A quick purchase, and thankfully small bag later, she was out of the door and walking towards Ed. She managed three steps before a tall man stepped in front of her. He wore ragged clothes and a long jacket and looked a little unkempt, but otherwise kind.

"Are you one of the people who makes Auto-Mail in town?"

"Yes" Winry spoke tentatively, confused. How did he recognize her?

"I have a job I would like you to do" the man spoke in an almost threatening tone, leaving little room for her to decline the offer.

"Well, if you just came by our shop, my aunt would be able to help you"

The man shook his head, "No, I want you."

She was starting to get a bit nervous, "Well I'm sorry sir, but unless you make an order and have the person come in to get fitted, I can't help you."

The man smiled slyly, "I'm sorry, but it's not going to work like that."

Winry sighed in a somewhat annoyed breath, "What is it that you want me to do exactly?"

"Just fix a mistake, and I'm going to need it done as soon as possible…"

She was beginning to like this conversation less and less. What possible mistake could this man have made, that required the help of an Auto-Mail mechanic? "Sorry… but I can't help you unless you come to the shop." She transferred her bag from her left hand to her right, with a sense of finality, "Good evening." With that she walked away.

Ed yawned to attention, "What took you so long?"

With her thoughts on the strange exchange she had just had, she hadn't even noticed Ed's question.

"Winry?"

She blinked rapidly a few times to come out of her thoughts, "Hmmm?"

"Are you ok? You look worried about something."

Winry plastered a smile to her face and shrugged, "Oh it's nothing I'm just tired." she really didn't feel any reason to tell Ed about her encounter, figuring that she would probably never see the man again.

Ed furrowed his brow, but decided he would figure it out later, "Well don't get too tired, you still have to reattach my arm tonight."

* * *

A/n ok, that's it for the first chap, I had to go back and edit some things... ff took out my page breaks, so it was probably confusing for some people to read, but that's all fixed now I'd love to hear anything it is that you have to say... and I enjoy long reviews even more!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** well since everyone else seems to be doing these in every chapter I might as well too. I'mpretty sure Idon't own any of the nouns mentioned in this story, unless of course I've accidentaly made something, in which case... HA!

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**Chapter 2**

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Pinako starred at Winry with that tight lipped, razed brow, pipe in the mouth look.

"Don't look at me like that, it's not like I did anything wrong."

"I'm surprised you two could make it through the door with everything you bought…"

Winry narrowed her eyes; she could hear the unvoiced words of Pinako's voice. It was clear what she was thinking; she could even hear them in her head, _"You know Ed shouldn't be worn out that much after such hard times, you should be more careful with him, you shouldn't spend all of his money… even if it is really the military's. And you shouldn't buy so many things that we don't even need." _With a deep sigh she rested her head on her folded arms, and looked up at Pinako from the table (not something she found herself doing often)

"Do you know where he is? I should start working on his arm… it's getting late."

Pinako looked out the screen door and puffed out a circle of smoke, "I think he's outside with Al… he was sleeping earlier."

Winry rolled her eyes at the subtlety of Pinako's remark. Once again she was hinting on how much she _really _shouldn't have taken Ed out all day. My god! You would think she had put him through mortal peril or something.

She slowly slid herself off of the seat and slunk out into the back yard; anything to get away from that glare.

* * *

"So brother how was it today with Winry?"

Ed snorted, Al wasn't much for sarcasm, but Ed could hear the chuckle in his brother's voice as he asked the nearly rhetorical question.

"It's not horrible… I like to see when she's happy," morbid expression readied, Ed decided to finish with a more dignified and less obvious sentence, "It makes up for how often we make her sad."

All looked down in thought, they were doing that more often these days. It seemed like Winry was in a constant state of worry… Pinako seemed indifferent to the whole thing; she seemed to know that the brothers needed to do what they were doing.

"Ed?"

Ed twisted around in the grass to look up at Winry, the nearly set sun cast shadows over her face, and made her expression hard to place, but Ed knew what she was there for, "Yeah…" He stood up and followed Winry into the living room.

* * *

Ed bit his lip against the searing pain that shot through his shoulders and down his spine as Winry attached his arm. Leaning over, he grabbed his auto-mail shoulder with his good hand and braced himself through the pain. With a strained smirk he looked up to Winry, "Smooth as…" He noticed her tensed features and watering eyes, "…always."

"I'll…" She whispered and swallowed, "I'll stay here till you fall asleep. We haven't had to reattach your arm in a while, I… I have to make sure everything is working properly."

Ed's face eased with her words, even though he was the one going through the pain, it was hurting her so much more "I'll be fine; you should go to bed." He shifted on the couch till he was lying down, and closed his eyes.

"No!"

Surprised by her outburst, he opened one of his eyes to look at her.

"You're here now, and I'm going to take care of you whether you like it or not!"

He snorted amusedly, how could he say no to that? His thoughts wandered around that feeling for a moment. He did like her taking care of him… and he couldn't quite figure out at what point that had started to happen.

* * *

Ok… so falling off the couch and nearly crushing Winry wasn't his first choice for starting his morning, but what can you do? Lucky for his reflexes that he had managed to get his hands on either side of her head and hold himself above her before he made a complete landing. _Well… I guess the Auto-mail is working._ What was she doing sleeping on the floor anyways? And when had he ever fallen off the couch before? His thoughts were quickly wiped clear when he noticed her stirring in her sleep. He propped himself up and managed to get to his feet before she fully woke up.

With a soft murmur Winry rolled over and onto her side, falling back into deep sleep.

Ed played with the idea of picking her up and putting her on the couch, but decided against it, you never really know what mood she's going to wake up in, and it was better that she didn't wake up with the shock of being held bridal style in his arms. His smile was short lived, as the image of all that flushed his cheeks.

Ugg… How could fighting the Homunculi, arguing with the military, and creating the philosophers stone not be enough to distract him from _this? _He shook his head. He needed to eat something.

* * *

In an unconscious sense she actually enjoyed the warm and sloppy kisses, but after her flustered giggling woke her up, and she found Den smiling over her face, she was happy that she couldn't remember what she had been dreaming about. Besides the colossal crink in her neck, she actually felt well rested though, and ready for breakfast.

By the time she sat down at the table with her plate of jellied toast, she just noticed the note tapped to the door. When she got up to read it, she was surprised that it was in Pinako's writing… she usually didn't take the time to write her notes.

_Winry… the boys are off somewhere, and I wont be back till later. Do something useful and make dinner. _

She shredded the letter and let the pieces fall to the ground through her fingers. "I'm sorry auntie! I had no idea you wanted me to make dinner… Den must have gotten to the note before I did!" Winry snickered and went back to her toast.

* * *

Sparks flew past her as Winry worked on a welding project outside. She figured since everyone was gone she would be able to finally work on it in peace, besides, she didn't want Ed to see it till she was finished.

She was surprised when she heard knocking from somewhere in the house. Who ever it was had fantastic timing; she had just been about to start hammering away again.

She wiped her forehead and walked into the house to answer the door. Her heart nearly stopped in her throat when she saw that it was the man she had met the other day. She felt that it was completely illogical that she would be frightened of this man, but something in her told her to be.

"I asked you politely before, but now I'm going to have to take more drastic measures this time." Without asking to be let in, the man stepped through the threshold and took hold of Winry's arm and pulled her towards him, "Grab any supplies you'll need to make a leg and I'll let you keep your arm."

Winry swallowed and tried to keep her jaw from shacking. She knew she wasn't strong enough to fight this man, and she knew resisting him would just end in pain. She also knew that the only reason this man would be acting so harshly would be because he had something to hide, which meant she would probably have to do what he told her until either Ed or Al came home… which she hoped would be any moment. This man probably thought she lived alone, which would be true any other time.

"I just n-need to get some of my tools and a base l-leg," She pointed a shacking hand towards the workroom.

The man glared at her for a moment, "Is there a backdoor?"

She nodded.

"Where?" He tightened his grip on her arm.

She pointed towards the other door, and the man seemed satisfied that he would be able to guard both without her being able to get away.

"Is it for a man or a… woman?"

"Why?"

"The leg is different…"

"Woman." He looked around nervously, "Don't waste time." He pushed her away and watched as she tripped her way to the workroom, trying to make her legs work properly.

When she emerged with a toolbox and a limp metal leg, the man seemed satisfied, and wasted no time in getting a hold of her arm again. He pulled her outside to his car, and before throwing her into the backseat; he tied a tight black scarf around her head to cover her eyes.

The man peered through the window of the backseat, "Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise of where we're going…" He smiled and quickly slid into the drivers seat.

Winry curled in on herself and let the blindfold dry her tears. What was happening? Everything was going by so quickly, how could everything go wrong so fast? She had been happy if not content only moments ago, and now she wasn't sure she was going to be alive tomorrow. She knew that she just had to finish what this man wanted her to do; maybe he would let her go.  
The ride seemed to go on forever, as Winry drifted in and out of attention, one moment everything would seem sickeningly real and the next it all felt like a dream that shifted in and out of reality. The man driving the car never spoke, and she hardly felt inclined to question what was happening. She felt that the less she knew, the less she could be hurt.  
Finally the car came to a gravelly stop, slowly easing its way into some sort of driveway. Winry could notice her black world become slightly darker, as they no doubt pulled into a carport.  
She heard a door click open and slam closed, before one of the back seat doors was opened and she was pulled out awkwardly. She stumbled for footing as if she had never stood a day in her life, and could feel a slight tug on the back of her head as the man untied her blindfold.  
She squinted in the dim light and tried to get her bearings. They seemed to be in a clean garage surrounded by bare white walls, and a dank floor.  
The man shoved Winry's supplies into her arms, and grumbled that she follow him through a small wooden door.  
As she stepped into the foyer she found herself in a house that showed wealth beyond what she figured this man had. Everything seemed white and inviting, and everything that wasn't white held a comforting brown tone that seemed to fill your being with a since of warmth.  
Caught of guard by the comforting surroundings, Winry felt jolted when the man asked in a business like tone for her to follow him down into a lower floor of the house.  
Once through the door and down a narrow flight of wooden stairs, Winry found herself in a much darker world. Cement walls were lit dimly with dirty candles and the hard wooden floor complained under their weight, as they made their way down the hall.  
The man turned to his right and lifted his hand to a lonesome door. Once it was opened, he grabbed Winry's arm once again and shoved her in before him.  
As she stumbled into the room, Winry came upon a sight that nearly made her faint on the spot.  
"Miss Rockbell… this is my wife."

* * *

A/n whew... lot of little page breaks in that one... didn't realize that before. Well... hope you like it anyways


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Don't sue me because I'm writing about a story I didn't invent... love me because I can!

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**Chapter 3**

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Ed looked out the window for the fifth time since he had gotten home with Al. He turned to Pinako, "does she usually leave notes when she's going to be gone for this long?" He looked up to the house clock; it was nearly 5:00!

"Mmm… if she remembers to."

What kind of answer was that! That did nothing to satisfy his nerves, why was no one else worried about this? Al was playing carelessly with Den, and Pinako was smoking her pipe as usual, as if nothing could possibly go wrong in the world. He balled his fists and gritted his teeth, he was just overreacting, and that was all. He just needed to take a breath; Winry went to take care of other clients all the time! He started to chew on the inside of his lip, then why did he feel so nervous?

* * *

Winry tried desperately to keep her hands from shacking as she rested a clean warm cloth on the woman's head. Winry had been trying to effectively stop the bleeding for a while now, but the woman's leg had been severed at such a difficult section right at her knee, that all attempts seemed futile unless she had a way to burn the woman's wound.

When she had stepped into the room and saw the woman lying on a bed of bloody sheets with a young servant girl at her side trying to wipe the sweat from her face, Winry hadn't known what to think. Who in their right mind wouldn't take this woman to the hospital?

When the girl had seen Winry she had immediately introduced herself as Lin, and tried to explain to an extent what had happened. Apparently the woman had had an accident with some farming machinery, and had lost her leg in the shuffle of everything. She had gotten the information from the woman's husband though, since the woman herself refused to speak a word. Winry also learned that the man and his wife were Mr. And Mrs. Leaning, Mrs. Sheryl Leaning to be exact. The girl said she hadn't learned the man's name, since she had just been hired two days ago, and he refused to give it.

Lin had also said that she didn't think the accident had been caused by machinery of any kind, because the wound was far too clean cut.

Everything kept playing over and over again in her head as Winry tried to prepare Mrs. Leaning's leg for Auto-Mail.

She smiled when the woman finally eased into a restful sleep after Winry had managed to stop the bleeding, she would have to work quickly though if she wanted to make all the proper connections to the woman's nervous system so she would be able to walk later. She would connect a metal docking port of sorts attached to the area the leg that had been severed, once that was in place connected to all the right nerves, she would be able to connect the actual leg.

Winry wiped the sweat from her face as she performed the surgery without any painkillers for the woman. The only thing she had been able to do was tie an extremely tight rope around Mrs. Leaning's thigh, until she lost all feeling in what was left of her leg.

When she had finally finished the most difficult part, she let the woman rest a while as she made the necessary adjustments to the Auto-mail leg before having to attach it.

In her lucid state of pain the woman reached out to Winry and strained against her body, "You must… find someone to stop him. His brother was never worth such a sacrifice…" her words were soft and forced but she managed to keep them together smoothly. She looked down slowly and let the tears slide, "I should have never tried to leave…" She seemed to be talking to herself at this point, "it was just his gluttony that made him do it anyways… there was no money without Charles, even though the man was not… completely himself, they still gave it all to him…" She sputtered a soft laugh that turned into a snarl, "Why? Why did they give it all to him?"

Winry frowned, trying to grasp what the woman was trying to tell her. It seemed like she was just delirious from all of the pain.

It was then that the woman's husband decided to enter the room to check on how things were going.

Winry swallowed her questions, not sure if she really wanted to know what was going on.

"When will you be able to attach the leg?"

With her head down she answered the man, "I won't be able to until she regains some of her strength, she lost a lot of blood, and probably won't be able to take the pain of the attachment." She had a flashback of the night Al had brought Ed back from their mother's transmutation. He had lost so much blood, he had been so weak, and it had taken him at least a week to come back to the strength needed in order for them to give him his Auto-mail. And this man probably wanted her to give his wife a leg within the night. (a/n ok, going back in episodes I couldn't figure out if they had given Ed his auto-mail the night of the incident, or if they had just given him is little docking ports. So to be logical, I'm saying it was just the docking ports.)

The man gave his wife a quick glance, then quickly cast his glare back on Winry, "What has she told you?"

She paused for a moment, "nothing…" which was true as far as she was concerned, she hadn't understood a word of what the woman had told her.

Apparently the pause had been enough for the man to figure that that wasn't the whole truth, "You're lying. What did she tell you?"

Winry dug her fingers into her legs and ground her teeth, "Nothing." Her words were stronger.

"Call me when you've attached the leg," the man turned on his heel and left the dark dimly lit room.

As Winry turned back to the sleeping woman, she wished Lin were still there with her. The girl had left shortly after she had arrived, and now, the loneliness weighing down on her seemed nearly unbearable. What was she doing? What was going on?

* * *

"I'm going out looking for her." Ed grabbed his red coat from one of the hangers and swung it over his shoulders. 7:00 and 8:00 had passed by with painful slowness, and now, as the hands of the house clock were slowly making their way to 10:00, Ed couldn't take it any longer. Something was wrong, something was defiantly wrong.

"I'll go with you brother." Al quickly followed his brother out the front door.

Pinako sighed, and let the smoke from her pipe linger in the air around her, "Be safe, Winry."

* * *

Mrs. Leaning's deafening scream could be heard echoing throughout the walls of the mansion.

Winry forced her way through tears as she made the finale attachments to the woman's new leg. She had never done anything like this on her own, and she now found herself thanking Ed for his forced silence whenever they had to reattach any of his Auto-mail. She wasn't sure if she could handle him crying in pain like this. And even though she had worked on other clients who screamed, Pinako had always been there with some remedy to ease the pain or give comfort in a way only a doting mother could. She gave stability in a time of chaos.

All Winry could do was hold the woman's hand and give her a piece of thick fabric to bite against the pain. There was no remedy awaiting her tonight.

Her husband was quick to arrive on the scene though, hardly giving his wife a second glace as he hoisted Winry up by her already bruised arm and told her that her job was finished.

"But I can't leave her like this! I have to stay and make sure her body accepts the new parts!" Winry pulled back from the man and instantly regretted it the moment the man's fingers dug into her arm harder.

"You will leave this house, and if you ever breathe a word of anything you have seen here tonight, you will lose more than just this arm."

Winry bit her lip and tried to still her shaking, there was nothing she could do… this man already knew where she lived, and she didn't even know his name.

* * *

"So this is where you were born?" A tall and dark woman stood admiring the structure of a beautifully built house, as the few lights from the open windows cast shadows down on her and her companion.

"Heh…" a hint of drool slid down the face of a man sitting billow the woman, as he looked up at the building as well.

The woman seemed to take this answer as a 'yes' and merely smiled in response, "You must have done well for yourself…"

They watched as a young woman was thrown out into the night, and stumbled into the driveway.

"But when I came here you didn't want me to see the way!" She shouted at the retreating man.

He paused for a moment with his back turned, "You'll find your way, and when you get where you're going, the land changes at night, I doubt you'll be able to tell anyone the way you came, much less find the courage to do so." He laughed as he shut the door on her.

In the trees the two figures watched with indifference, although one seemed a little infatuated with the site of the girl.

He looked up to his companion, "Can I eat her?"

"You wouldn't want to rune your appetite."

He looked down with his finger in his mouth and whined a soft complaint.

* * *

With her legs too weak to carry her properly; Winry limped down the dirt road, holding the arm that had been abused so much that day as she tried to pay attention to where she was going. Her sight clouded over every now and then, as the shadowy moon-cast world swirled before her, distorted even more by her own thoughts. She was determined to make it home… no mater how far away she was… or even if she was going in the wrong direction. Every fork in the road felt like it was taunting her "getting closer? Or going further away?" the road would laugh. She picked up a rhythm though; head straight, and every other turn go right. She figured her luck would have to catch up with her at some point.

She felt weak though, so exhausted by her day, she felt like her bones were quickly giving way, and her muscles weren't going to be far behind. Her legs felt like jelly, numbed to the touch, but aching painfully with the rest of her body. It was amazing what that kind of stress could do to someone.

She didn't know how long she had been walking in her state. Everything seemed so dreamlike she started to try and think of it as if it wasn't really reality.

Stubbing her foot on a rock, and falling to her face, did nothing to help any of her conditions, but only assured the fact that she was really not dreaming. She wasn't so sure after the fall though, that she would be able to get up again.

"Winry!"

Through blurry vision, and muffled hearing, she could have sworn she heard Ed's voice. But almost found the strength to laugh when she thought about how incredible that would be… she wasn't that lucky, not by a long shot.

Then she heard shoes scrapping along gravel, and the sound of clinking metal.

"Winry!"

She lifted her head just high enough to see Ed kneeling down beside her. Tears started to roll down her cheeks as she reached out for his shirt and nearly clawed her way up to a sitting position so she could wrap herself as tightly around him as she could manage. She didn't want to let go of the reality that he was there, and the feeling of how safe that made her feel.

After the shock of the situation sunk in, Ed tried to comfort the sobbing Winry the best he could. What had happened to her?

"Brother?"

Ed didn't answer, afraid that speaking might jolt Winry too much, considering her head was glued to his chest. But he knew Al would understand the silence.

"There's blood…"

Ed's eyes opened wider as he took in the state of Winry's overalls, she was covered in blood.

"We need to get her home, brother. Auntie will be worried…"

Ed nodded and decided to pick up Winry so that she could continue her clinging, but found it difficult with the position of her arms.

"Winry?"

She trembled.

"You're either going to have to let go, or move your arms higher…" He was trying to speak as softly and slowly as he could, because until he knew what had happened to her, he was going to treat her like glass.

She nodded slowly into his chest, and wrapped her arms around his neck, letting her head rest on his metal shoulder. She didn't want to open her eyes, so she shut them tightly and let her tears of relief and trauma sink into his coat.

Picking her up from a kneeling position was harder than Ed had planned, but he managed. Considering that Winry was actually… taller than him, he was surprised by how light she was.

* * *

By the time they got back to the house, Ed was taking back his judgment of Winry's weight, considering that both of his arms felt like they were about to fall off. She had gotten heavier by the time she had finally stopped crying and fallen asleep, and even though Al had offered to carry her, Ed wasn't sure if they would be able to pry her loose. Besides, he had no intention of waking her up.

Coming through the door, Pinako had barely batted an eyelash (a/n is it just me or does she almost never show emotion? It's always as if she expects everything to happen.)

Ed had taken Winry to the couch, figuring that she probably wouldn't want to get blood on her bed, and found –since she had fallen asleep- that it was much easier to detach her than he had first thought. But when he tried to move away she moaned and reached out to grab his coat.

Without opening her eyes, she whispered, "Don't…" She couldn't be left alone; she knew that for a fact. That man knew where she lived, she wouldn't be able to sleep with the knowledge that at any moment during the night he could walk through the door and take her again if anything had gone wrong with his wife's Auto-mail. She needed Ed to be there, just as much as she wanted him to be.

Al walked up behind them and rubbed the back of his neck, "auntie and I are going to sleep… wake us up if anything happens." He clanked away and into the darkness of the brothers' room, while Pinako had already disappeared into her own room.

Ed turned his attention back to the barely conscious Winry, and sighed. What did she expect him to do? Sleep on the floor like she did?

Winry pushed herself up to a sitting position and gestured for Ed to sit down. Her jaw felt locked and numb, she didn't want to talk again. Besides that, at this point she felt like she was merely sleep walking.

As Ed leaned back on the couch with a yawn, Winry shifted into a lying position again and rested her head on his lap. She was asleep within seconds.

Ed was a little rigid with the odd situation. But he quickly decided that Winry was in no way herself at this moment, and he wasn't going to argue with her actions. He let his head fall into the cushions of the couch and roll over to his shoulder limply. They would just get through the night, and he would ask questions tomorrow. Other than her exhausted appearance she seemed fine, and Ed didn't think any of the blood on her clothes was actually hers, since she wasn't really acting like she was in pain.

He opened one of his eyes to peer down at her, and noticed that the arm resting in front of her was darkened with a deep bruise. It was her left arm and he cringed at the sight of it, asking once again, what happened to her?

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

**Declaration of unoriginality:** I do NOT own the show Full Metal Alchemist... nor can I pronounce the name of the woman who does... I may own the word Alchemizing though... so there! In your face lawyers who could sue me for everything I'm worth even though that only adds up to life insurance and a cat!... and the computer I'm using... possibly a piano... Hmmm, maybe I have more to lose than I thought. So just to stat on the safe side of things, I don't own the word Alchemizing either ...

* * *

**Chapter 4**

* * *

Ed opened his eyes drowsily to the sound of soft chuckling. He blinked a few times till his eyes cleared and turned his head to the side to see Pinako with her hands behind her back starring at him with amusement.

As his other senses came back, he realized that he wasn't sitting up any longer like he had been when he had fallen asleep. Instead, he was lying comfortably on his back, with Winry laying half on the couch, and half on him, with her arm and head rested gently on his chest.

He couldn't help the blush that seemed to rush through his entire body, as he tried to look at Pinako innocently.

"Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes, I'll give you two some time to wake up…" With a broad smile on her face, she walked off to the kitchen.

Ed swallowed hard as he looked down at Winry, she seemed peaceful, and her mouth was slightly open as she twitched in the midst of a dream.

He really didn't want to wake her up, but he also didn't have much of a choice, "Winry?" at least he managed a whisper.

Her eyes squinted tighter and she grasped a bit of his shirt in her hand as she fought with her dream, until her body relaxed and she opened her eyes slightly, "Hmmm?"

Ed's blush returned, "We should probably… get up"

Winry cast her eyes around in sleepy confusion, until she fully realized where she was and whom she was using as a pillow. She quickly shuffled to a sitting position and stuttered a response along the lines of her getting cleaned up. She nearly jumped off the couch and scurried to her room.

Ed's sigh quickly turned into a yawn as he slid himself off the couch and went to clean himself up as well. He wasn't all that sure if he would be able stomach breakfast right about now, the butterflies seemed like enough sustenance to last him a while.

* * *

Ed's metal fingers tapped the counter with impatience, as his foot followed suit bellow him. His eggs lay prodded in front of him, as he tried to get his mind on something else.

Pinako sighed across the table from him, "Leave her be, she apparently went through something traumatic and we should give her as much space as she needs until she comes to tell us herself."

Sitting beside him Al shuffled his fingers, "She's right… we shouldn't push Winry to tell us anything."

Ed's tapping stopped. Was it that easy to tell that he was about knock down Winry's door and demand she tell him what happened? How was it that neither of them thought any of this was an urgent mater? His thoughts fluttered about for a moment until they finally settled with, _would they try to stop me if I did?_

Ed stood up quickly, if he didn't get out of the house soon, he was going to go mad with impatience.

"Brother!" Al jumped up and grabbed for Ed, "You shouldn't!"

Ed rolled his eyes, "I'm just going for a walk…"

Al blushed, slightly embarrassed with his actions, "Do you want me to come with you?" he still had a hint of suspicion, and felt it would be safer to keep an eye on his brother.

"No…" he smiled up at Al, "I'll be back in a bit, I just need to think for a little while."

* * *

Ed scrapped the stones on the road with his foot, he was standing at the exact place they had found Winry the night before. He looked down the road and squinted his eyes, hoping to see something that would give him any hint of what had happened to Winry. But it was just rolling farmland for as far as he could see. There were a few houses in the distance, but he didn't have time to interrogate all those families at the moment. He sighed; he would just have to talk to Winry… he wondered why that seemed like such an ominous task.

Walking back towards home Ed let his thoughts circle around other things, like him and Winry. He growled, _No, _he backtracked and decided to start thinking about what he was always thinking about… the philosopher's stone. But that didn't last for long when he started to ask himself why he couldn't think of Winry and him. Even when they had been little he had wanted to marry her… although, so did Al, and they really hadn't understood what the word implied then. But nevertheless, the thought had always been in the back of his mind every time he saw her, along with the question, _Would we still be just friends if I wasn't searching for the philosopher's stone?_ But he liked being her friend; that relationship had worked out for so long, anything else would just be… complicated.

As his thoughts got more complicated Ed hardly realized that he had already made it back home until he was nearly on the porch. When he noticed that nobody had seen him coming home, he let a mischievous grin take over his face and darken his eyes. He slowly tiptoed his way around the house until he was under Winry's window (a/n ok, I'm just going to assume that all the bedrooms are upstairs… don't be offended if this is not your opinion

With a clap of his hands he managed to make a few small stairs reaching up to one of the walls of her bedroom. And with another clap, he made a small door. He heard a startled scream from inside before he knocked. Why knock down a door, when you can just make your own?

"E-Ed?" Winry's voice sounded uncertain.

He frowned, wondering if this was really the best idea, "Can I come in?"

She ground her teeth, "Ed! Just because you waltzed up here and made yourself a door, doesn't mean I'm going to let you in. I don't feel like talking!"

From where he was standing, she sounded up to the challenge, he was just happy to hear that she was her normal snappy self. He could deal with snappy; fragile and wounded were the difficult emotions to handle.

"Then you don't have to talk, I can, and you can… mime!" (a/n were there mimes in the 19teen century?)

Ed could hear slight laughter from behind the door followed by a saddened "No…"

Damn… he could have sworn he had her with that one.

Well at least he tried. Ed opened his created door and shuffled in quietly.

"Ed!"

He held up his hands to stop her from beating him to a pulp, "you can kill me later, but you have to listen to me now…"

Winry sat in a tangled heap of blankets, leaning against the wall as she sat on her bed. She didn't say anything, nor did she make a move for the wrench she had lying on her bed stand table. Ed took that as a good sign.

"When someone finds you covered in blood, exhausted and bruised—"

Winry lifted her hand up to hold her wounded arm; she was hoping that he hadn't seen that.

"You can't just leave them hanging and tell them nothing!"

Winry swallowed and looked down, "I'm sorry Ed… but I can't tell you anything."

He was speechless for a moment, "What do you mean you can't tell me anything?"

She looked up at him, "I _mean _that I can't tell you anything!"

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to lose my arm!"

"What?"

Winry's eyes widened as she realized what she had said. That wasn't good, if she couldn't keep her mouth shut about that, what else would she let slip to him?

Ed walked over to her bed and sat down, "Tell me what happened." It wasn't a question.

She looked down again, she couldn't look at him… his eyes would make her tell him. But she couldn't just say nothing. "He said he would take my arm if I told anyone…"

Ed frowned, he didn't like the sound of that, "Nobody's going to take your arm, I wouldn't let anyone come close enough to do it. What happened?"

She couldn't help but smile, as much as that was comforting, it wasn't comforting enough, "I know you wouldn't, but you can't be here forever… you'll be leaving again soon, and how will you be able to protect me then?"

"If you tell me, I'll make it so I wont have to protect you"

Just as Winry was about to say something there was a knock on her other door.

"Brother, I know you're in there. Auntie and I could hear you two yelling…"

"And stop alchemizing my house!" Pinako shouted up the stairs

Ed rubbed the back of his neck, "Eh-heh"

* * *

Dinner came and went with a tension that everyone seemed to share with the same amount of detest, but just the same, no one was up for arguing with it. Ed had already been scolded enough to keep him from trying to question Winry further, and Winry was embarrassed enough with her own behavior that she couldn't say a word to anyone. How could she explain that she couldn't tell them anything?

After dinner, Ed wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep; Winry tossed in her bed from nervous worries, but she knew she couldn't very well ask Ed to sleep with her again… just the thought turned her red and kept her mind on other things for a while. Al couldn't sleep because of worries about Winry, and all Ed could think about was Winry and… _NO. _All he could think about was how angry Roy was going to be with his little "over-stay" at home; while Pinako couldn't sleep because of arthritis. Den on the other hand, was deep in dreams of being a complete auto-mail dog. Cats scurried from the sound of his footsteps, and squirrels in trees were no longer a matter now that he had a machine gun tail. But that was a completely unrelated matter. (a/n sorry, I couldn't resist . )

* * *

A/n hmmm, not too long of a chapter, eh? sighs too bad. And so far... you're thinking... what exactly? 


	5. Chapter 5

**remialcsiD:** oN I od ton nwo siht cif uoy ees, siht cif thgir ereh si ton yb em! dnA fi uoy hsiw ot yas m'I gniyl, eveileb uoy em fi ti erew eurt, ym yenom dluow eb gniylf!

**. that was fun!**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

* * *

**RING! **

With a blink, a moan, and nearly rolling off his bed, Ed's ears rang with the sound of the phone that was still echoing in the distance.

"Someone pick up the phone!"

Ed frowned as Pinako's voice carried throughout the house, but he was glad to hear that the phone had stopped ringing.

"Brother!" Al's voice carried up the stairs, "It's for you!"

Ed looked up to his brother's bed trying to register why in the world Al would be up at such an hour. Swinging his legs out of bed, he pulled on his pants and took a look at his pocket watch, which told him that he had actually been the one to sleep in, being as it was nearly noon.

Ed dragged his feet down the stairs, his eyes barely halfway open as he tried to think of who would be calling him. By the time he got downstairs and to the phone, his brain had finally caught up with logic, and he realized that there would probably only be one person calling him. He picked up the phone.

"What do you want?"

"I don't think that's the best tone to use with the person who funds you"

Ed nearly gagged at Roy's almost cheerful response, "Just tell me"

"I'm merely calling to make sure that you wish to keep your job?"

He growled, "What? I still have two days left…"

Ed could hear Roy tapping his pen on his desk.

"Yes… but you're usually back by now, and I was beginning to get worried that you might not be coming back. You never know what dogs will do when you let them roam for too long."

"You don't have to worry about your dog running away, Colonel. I'll be back when I'm back."

"Well besides that, I'm not too happy with what I'm seeing on your fund write-offs, the military is not paying you to—"

Ed smiled with the satisfying click of the phone, and the abrupt silence of Roy as the line went dead.

"What did he want?" Al walked up managing to look slightly worried, even without expressional features.

Ed let his breath out in a sigh, "Nothing… he was just checking up."

Al looked down, knowing that that probably wasn't all Roy wanted.

Ed sat down at the kitchen table and swirled the cereal in front of him. He forced down the first few bites after realizing that he hadn't really eaten much of anything the day before. He was distracted shortly though, by the distinct sound of sparks flying.

Ed found Winry out back, hard at work with something she was molding… or sharpening, on a Grindstone.

When she noticed him coming up she nearly dropped what she was doing –literally. She hurriedly tried to cover her work with a sheet she had lying around, and tried not to be too obvious about it.

Ed noticed, but didn't care to question her actions. He made a quick decision and decided to go with it, "Get changed… we're going into town" maybe he could bribe some answers out of her.

Winry eyed him suspiciously, "But I got everything I wanted yesterday…"

"I'll buy you a new welding torch." He let the tempt linger in the air, knowing that she wouldn't be able to resist.

Winry turned her head to the rusty and nearly useless torch she already had, and bit her lip. "I'll be ready in a second." She jumped up, brushed off her pants, and ran into the house. A moment later there was a yell from inside the house, "And don't touch any of my things!"

Ed smiled; this was going to be easy. He decided to look around for any more ideas he could use for bribery, fighting the urge to lift the sheet and peer under at what Winry was working on. His reserve was nearly about to brake when Winry came out of the door, dressed in a white tank-top and her black skirt.

She cleared her throat, "So what were you saying about getting me new welding tools?"

"Hey, wait… I only said I would get you—"

Winry brushed passed him with a wide smile on her face, making sure to state clearly that she really wasn't listening to a word he was saying.

* * *

Should he ask her now? She seemed so happy, picking out the highest quality of torch. He figured he should probably start questioning her before she got it… he wasn't that sure it would be the best subject to bring up while she had fire in her hands. But it could possibly be more painful to bring it up while she was so happy; she usually had a wrench somewhere on her at all times.

As Ed contemplated his options, Winry purchased one of the smaller, gas efficient, and expensive welding torches she could find. She walked out of the store with a wide smile on her face, to see Ed starring at the ground in deep and difficult thought.

She sighed, "I'm not going to tell you anything…"

Ed looked up at her quickly a little shocked, "How did you--?"

"I figured I would wait till you bought me the torch before I told you that you weren't going to get anywhere with me with bribes."

Ed tried to look at her with pleading and honest eyes, "You have to tell someone, I wont let whoever did what they did to you, get away with whatever they did…" he chewed on his words for a minute, trying to figure out if he had said that right, he growled, "I don't even know who I'm mad at or why!"

Winry laughed lightly at Ed's frustration, but her lightheartedness was quickly taken away when she remember the seriousness of the situation. The memory was brought back threefold when she heard a clap, and saw Ed go flying to the side away from her. Mr. Leaning came into view and blocked her vision of him.

She let out a half scream when he grabbed her arm yet again, and forced her to look at him.

"You told someone! Didn't you?" he shook her.

"I didn't tell anyone!" She started to cry, what was going on?

"Don't lie to me!" He squeezed her arm harder, "Someone tried to kill me!"

"I didn't tell _anyone_!" she sobbed.

The man growled in fury, "I told you what would happen if you said anything…"

Winry closed her eyes tightly and willed everything to be a dream.

Ed rolled over on the ground and tried to shake his head of the cloud that was filling it. What happened? He blinked a few times and caught a glimpse of someone holding Winry; that was all it took to get him on his feet and running towards her, blade at the ready.

Before he got to her, he heard a clap and watched as Winry fell to the ground, the man looming over her for a second before he started to walk away as if nothing had happened. With the streets as empty as they were, he had no reason to fear anyone seeing him other than Ed.

Ed was torn between wanting to go to Winry or going after the man. And decided that he would take care of Winry first, and once she was ok, he would be able to ask her about what had really happened to her and he would get answers this time.

He put a hand on her shoulder, "Winry?"

She shuddered and opened her eyes slightly; she saw Ed looking over her worriedly before she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

"What do you mean you don't know what's wrong with her?" Ed nearly screamed into the face of the doctor that had spent the last hour performing tests on Winry, He was standing in the hall of a Rizenbul hospital, trying to figure out how people could be so incompetent.

"I told you Mr. Elric, there is a form of poison in her body that we have never come across before. It's as if her own body were working against itself. Luckily we've found that it's only accruing in her left arm, it's moving quite slowly, and we may be able to stop it from spreading with amputation."

Ed starred into the face of the man talking to him with a sense of shock, "luckily'? 'AMPUTAION'?" he let his fist hit the wall none to lightly, cursing himself. She said she hadn't wanted to lose her arm… and he said he wouldn't let that happen. He didn't know whom to blame either, himself for taking her into town and letting this happen, or her for not telling him earlier so he could have prevented it. Ed opted for blaming the man. He must have used alchemy to poison her, probably turning the natural enzymes in her body into something toxic. If he knew how it had been done, he might have been able to reverse the effect.

"I'm sorry sir… but it seems it seems like our only option at the moment, and we don't really have time to find another one."

He swallowed hard, "Do whatever you have to do…" He turned away from the doctor and walked back to the waiting room, "Call me when you put her in her own room."

Ed asked the receptionist if he could use a phone. And now, as he stood starring at it, he dreaded the conversation awaiting him.

Ed swallowed with the sound of someone picking up on the other end of the line, "Aunt Pinako?"

"Hmm?"

"There's been an accident, Winry and I are at the hospital right now and we probably wont be able to leave till tomorrow."

"I won't ask what happened. Should Al and I come?"

Ed twisted the phone cord, "I don't know if they'll allow more than one person in her room at a time, but you could stay in the waiting room."

"Mmhmm, we'll come when we can."

He heard a click and the line went dead.

* * *

a/n sure… "Expressional" is a word, but Noooo you can't use Alchemizing! When the bloody hell am I ever going to use the word Expressional? And what I just used it for in the fic doesn't count… 


	6. Chapter 6

**Diclsiamer:** Wlel hree we go aiagn, my gamrmar skucs, my polt's rlalely niotnhg at all, and my piatecne is naer to nohtnig... yaeh... i atcaluly don't own tihs fcitoin if you can bileeve it!

ahhh... finding new ways to write this is actually getting pretty fun hope you can read that one, you should be able to though, it's a weird brain thing.

Enjoy!

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* * *

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**Chapter 6**

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* * *

**

Winry blinked herself awake and moaned, she felt like her head was full of fuzz, and her limbs were made of noodles.

In a second she saw Ed gazing down at her, his features tense.

She turned away and looked out the window on her right, it looked like it was early morning, meaning she must have slept through the night, "I can't feel my arm…"

Ed couldn't bring himself to say anything.

"Is Auntie and Al here?"

"They're waiting outside,"

Winry snorted, "I've always loved auto-mail so much… figures that something like this would happen to me." She didn't have to look to know that she no longer had her left arm, it felt like she still had an elbow though; that would probably make it easy for Pinako to attach auto-mail. It wouldn't be so bad. She couldn't stop the tears from trickling down her cheeks though, no mater how much she loved auto-mail, she would always love the ability of touch more.

"Do you know his name?"

She had nothing to lose anymore, why not tell him? She laughed inwardly, she had plenty to lose; she still had two legs and another arm, not to mention her life. But she also knew now that if she told Ed, she probably wouldn't have to worry anymore… she didn't even want to think about what he would do to the man, "Leaning…"

"Do you know what his house looked like?"

"It was big… like a mansion."

Ed nodded and turned to leave, stopping at the door for only a second, "I'll be back by tonight."

* * *

Having been unable to find any information on a Mr. Or Mrs. Leaning, Ed had gone back to his original idea. Following the street he had found Winry on, he now found himself standing in front of the only house that could be considering a mansion within 20 miles of anywhere.

"He's more powerful than you think… not the kind of person you would want to underestimate."

An icy voice sounded next to Ed, making him jump a little. He looked Lust in the eyes and scowled, "I don't have time for you"

She shrugged smoothly, "Nor I for you. I've merely come to watch the show, and pick up the pieces when you're done."

"What does this have to do with you?"

"Nothing actually, we just happen to have mutual intensions at the moment." She paused for a minute, "Was that girl a friend of yours?"

He narrowed his eyes, "What girl?"

She smirked, "You don't have to worry, I have no intensions of using her for anything. It seems that for the first time a coincidence is working in my favor, simply by chance."

"So you want me to do the dirty work?"

She laughed, "Don't kid yourself, you couldn't hurt a fly. You're probably just here to ask questions, and arrest the man. But you should know by now that that won't work anymore… what goes in prisons these days just seems to come out more dangerous. You don't even know what this man has done either. So Full Metal… what _are_ you going to do?"

He wanted to lash out and kill her right there, he was sickened by the thought that he couldn't even do that, "Well we'll just have to see…" he stepped up to the door and sliced the hinges, expecting it to be locked.

Walking into the dark house, he really didn't want to beat around the bush, "Leaning!" His yell echoed down the halls. Almost instantly he saw a haggard man appear in a large open doorway.

"Usually people knock before they break my doors…

"I'm sure they do…" he could feel himself getting prepared for a fight, his voice deepening, his hands ready, it happened so fast now, he hardly noticed it, "I have a few questions I would like to ask you."

"Oh?" The man walked out of the shadows and closer to Ed, "I saw you earlier today… you were with the auto-mail girl. Huh, seems that I have more enemies than I thought."

"What makes you think I'm an enemy?"

The man shrugged, "You break into my house, you call out my name, and it's because of me that your girlfriend is going to die. What makes you think I shouldn't?"

Ed smiled maliciously, the man had set Winry's body to poison itself completely, he probably hadn't considered the possibility of amputation, "Good, that'll make things go faster. That's all I needed to know." With a clap of his hands, his auto-mail was it's usual sword.

The man smiled as well, "Seems like we have something in common," The man clapped his hands lightly, and drew out a long sword from the floor.

For a moment, Ed was too shocked to do anything, the man hadn't even used a mock philosophers stone.

"Who would have thought this would be the outcome of a human transmutation? Alchemy without circles… it's nearly enough to make the money not mater. Looks like you lost a bit more than I did though."

This man was posting a lot more questions than Ed was planning on asking, but he decided to get the first one out of the way, "What did you do to Winry?"

"The auto-mail girl?" the man gave a facial shrug, "she came to help my wife with a… leg injury. She overheard something I would have rather she not have, and she betrayed my trust by telling someone. I don't appreciate it when people do that."

"Apparently. So you preformed human transmutation? Since Lust is lurking around, it must have been one of her gang that you tried to bring back. You mentioned something about money… that brings Envy to mind, but I don't think he's the one. Which means you probably created the fat one," Ed laughed, "Money's probably the only thing that would make you want to create that thing."

The man frowned, "What are you talking about?"

Ed's lip curled, "Probably a close relative? Heir to the family fortune?"

Ed could see the sneer from across the room, and he was ready when the man lunged forward with his sword, before they're blades met Ed shouted out angrily, "And she didn't say a word to anyone, for your information. You've just messed with the wrong family…"

Sparks flew as the blades connected.

A scream brought everything to a startled halt though. Ed turned to see a worn down woman in a nightdress, using a doorframe for a crutch. She coughed, and Ed could see the glint of an auto-mail leg.

"Stop this!" She shouted as loud as she could, "the money was never worth any of this!"

Ed pushed his blade harder as the rest of the puzzle brought itself together, "you tried to bring someone back because you weren't exactly second in line for the money, didn't you? When the transmutation failed, you tried a different method… it's easier to get the money when there's no one else to claim it. Your wife probably didn't like what you were doing, so she tried to tell someone. When she lost her leg, you needed someone to come and clean up the mistake." (a/n can you tell I'm rushing this along? Or has Ed just gotten good at figuring things out quickly with all the stuff he's been through . )

The man dropped his sword and fell to the ground holding his head, "Stop!"

There was a gurgle as the man fell to his face and Lust pulled her fingers out of the man's back. She sighed, "I hate it when things move slowly"

Stunned, all Ed could processes was the sound of a metal knee hitting hard floor, as Mrs. Leaning fell to the ground with sobs.

"Obstacles are so exhausting…" Lust smiled towards Ed, "What's the matter? You look surprised"

Ed ground his teeth.

"Did you really think I was going to let you get to the really important questions? Although… taunting you with hints is always enjoyable." Her shoulder shook with silent laughter.

"It's always a pleasure for me too… but dancing in the palm of your hand is getting tiring"

"Too bad you can't do anything about that."

Gluttony showed at her feet, and starred at Mr. Leaning hungrily, "Can I eat him?"

"Not yet." She looked back at Ed "You should know Full Metal, that this is what happens when you're not dancing in line, and you're no longer useful. If I were you, I would go back to the people that are important, and not worry about my future until it's in front of me. For now… you're still useful." She jumped up, and through an open window above her, while Gluttony grabbed the dead man and ambled off into the shadows.

(a/n sorry to cut the fight scene short folks, but this is more of a romance )

* * *

Ed dragged his feet over the street gravel, mindlessly wandering in the direction of his mother's grave. When he came to it, he was actually somewhat surprised. Why had he come here again? He had wanted to get back into town to see how Winry was doing, if Pinako hadn't take her back to the house yet to prepare her for auto-mail.

He starred at the gravestone and considered everything he had just heard. It seemed people would perform forbidden acts for near to no reason these days. Figures that the man would survive too. The world seemed to be becoming more and more unfair by the minute. The man had preformed human transmutation, and seemed to gain more than he lost, Winry lost her arm without gaining anything for it, and Mrs. Leaning had lost her leg for trying to do the right thing.

Ed sighed, if you looked at it in the whole though, the man had finally lost his life for everything he had done, Mrs. Leaning had probably gained her freedom, and Winry… she had gained a body guard that would probably give his life for her.

He walked away from the grave with a sad smile; he wouldn't let his mother's death be in vain.

He found himself starring up at his favorite tree, slightly befuddled as to how he had managed to get there. Apparently his subconscious was working against him, and he needed to be in these places today. He lay down in the grass and closed his eyes. It was still just the afternoon; no one was expecting him home till later.

* * *

The fist cricket of the night seemed to sound literally inside of his ear, making Ed nearly jump out of his skin as he was so rudely awakened. He rubbed the back of his head and yawned, the sun hadn't completely gone down yet, but he was still a ways away from home. Had he really slept that long? It seemed amazing with all the things on his mind.

By the time he did make it home the moon was already up, and the sun long gone. He figured that Winry would be home by now, Pinako would never have allowed her to stay more than two nights, regardless of her condition. Considering the fact that she was nearly a surgeon, Ed wasn't too worried.

The door created open, and he tried to step in as quietly as he could.

"Where have you been?"

Ed stiffened at Al's voice, "Taking care of some problems…"

"Oh…" Al traced his fingers over the table he was sitting at, "Roy called again, he said to tell you that if you're not home by tomorrow he's going to personally burn down the auto-mail shop you're apparently building."

Ed couldn't help but laugh, "He was yelling at me about the funds yesterday… I don't think he considers that auto-mail equipment is related to getting the philosophers stone."

Al sighed, "Winry's sleeping upstairs, she was worried about you. Auntie said that she wouldn't give her auto-mail for a few days… she thinks that Winry needs to get as much rest as she can, before she starts working again."

* * *

(a/n just when I think I'm getting to the end, making things logical drags me back in again, gah!)


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **Blah blah blah... I don't own the show...

* * *

**Chapter 7**

* * *

Winry woke up slowly and looked around the room for anyone who might be watching her. She strained her ears to hear outside of her door, but couldn't hear anyone. She smiled; she had been hoping no one would be around to keep her in bed. 

She got dressed as quickly as she could with only one arm, and cursed it for probably the fifth time since she had been home.

She was just about to open her door when she heard Den snoring outside. She chewed on her lip wondering if he would keep quiet if she came out. She slowly turned around to see the door Ed had made the other day, he hadn't gotten the chance to get rid of it, and she got a dark glint in her eyes when she realized it was the perfect escape rout.

She tiptoed down the makeshift steps, and wondered if anyone would see her sneaking to her work area if she walked around the house? She felt awake and fine; there was really no reason why she shouldn't be able to see what kind of work she could get done with only one arm. Pinako would probably say something about testing the luck of her other arm… but if push came to shove, she would just have to mention that it would even things out.

She was just making her way to her toolbox when she heard a snort behind her. She went stiff.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Winry turned around to face Ed, and rubbed the back of her head with innocence, "I was just going to… get something…. to fix… something…"

"Uh-huh. Get inside and eat before auntie takes out her pipe." Ed turned to go back into the house with an amused smile on his face. And Winry followed reluctantly

Breakfast could have gone better. With Winry growling at Pinako about how she was already ready for auto-mail because her arm had stopped bleeding the first day, while Pinako argued back, that the wound wasn't nearly healed enough for such surgery, and Ed and Al prodding their food trying to act as if they weren't listening, they badly needed an interruption.

Just as Winry was mumbling something about how you can't wait too long to attach auto-mail because the nerves won't work properly anymore, and Pinako arguing back that that wasn't true, the phone rang.

Both Ed and Al nearly upturned the dinner table trying to get to the phone first. When Al picked it up, he sighed before handing it to Ed.

"What now?" It was nearly a whine.

"You better be on a train right now…"

"If I was on a train you wouldn't be talking to me right now."

"Exactly"

Ed could almost see the superior smile on Roy's face, followed shortly by a displeased frown as Ed hung up on him. He slumped his way back to the table and grumbled.

"Al and I have to go back to HQ, the Colonel wants us for something"

That seemed to stop dead any conversation that had been going on between Pinako and Winry.

"What? When?" Winry looked caught off guard with surprise.

"Today would probably be best…"

She cast her eyes down, "oh…"

Ed tried to flash her an encouraging smile, "It's okay, we'll go and see what he wants, but we'll be back before you have your auto-mail"

She managed a weak smile, knowing that that probably wasn't true

* * *

Ed swayed one of his crossed legs; counting the minutes he sat impatiently waiting on Roy's office couch, until the door finally opened. 

When Roy walked in smoothly to sit down on his desk, there was a moment of silence in the room.

Ed thrummed his fingers on his crossed arms and decided to be the first one to speak, "I've been waiting here for 10 and a half minutes, what do you want?"

Roy gave one of his deadpan stares; "I received a call the other day informing me that a Mr. Frederic Leaning had died. The report came from someone who heard it from his wife, who, coincidently, places someone who bare a striking resemblance to you, at the scene of death, but claims that you weren't the one who killed him."

Ed tried to keep his face from showing any emotion.

"This came as a shock to me, for Mr. Leaning had actually worked for the military some years ago. The shock wasn't that he died; the shock was because he was already supposed to be dead. I figure that you, Ed, would be able to explain this… seeing that you were so close to the man."

Ed frowned, of course there was more going on than he had thought. He stood up, "All I knew was that he had preformed a human transmutation, and probably killed a few of his siblings. I came to his house to find out more, but someone else managed to kill him before me."

Roy chewed on the words for a minute, "Faking his own death would make murder a lot easier. He was a rich man though, why would he want to kill anyone?"

Ed shrugged, "I think when I got to him he was actually living off the last of his money."

"Hmm. Someone else was found dead in your hometown, a Miss Lin Diluce. Mrs. Leaning mentioned that for a few days the girl had been working as a nurse in the house. I thought you might want to know."

Ed sighed, wondering how close Winry had been to that fate, "So what does this have to do with me?"

Roy lifted his brow, "That's what I was going to ask you. You aren't allowed to go off on your own missions anymore Ed, especially without informing me before hand."

"It was a spur of the moment thing. So what's Leaning's story?"

Roy sighed, "He had a quiet life in the military, he even managed to die before the eastern war. It had been some accident with his gun, I believe. He was hardly important, and didn't have many comrades, when he died he was mostly forgotten. Seems he was a little more crazy than we gave him credit for." (a/d goddamn it! Now I have to finish up this whole little plot…)

Didn't seem like this man could be much of an obstacle for the Homunculus. For the first time he hardly felt curious about it, whatever it was, it couldn't possibly be that important.

Ed stood up and stretched, "Well, if that's it Colonel, I have some other business to attend to."

"I know you're not telling me everything, Ed. And frankly, I don't care. But you're still required to give a full report. You can write whatever you want, but you still have to write it. If you're also planning on going back to Rizenbul, then you have to file the necessary papers for another trip if it has nothing to do with your auto-mail or your orders." With a hint of knowing, a smidgen of sarcasm, and pinch of disappointment, Roy managed the perfect authoritative smirk.

Ed slumped. Great. He would probably have to stay another day.

* * *

A pile of crisp papers landed in front of Roy, making him have to look up lazily, with just enough confusion to make it not matter. 

"Just for you I added a funds report as well, and a whole page that should explain why I hate you so much…"

Ed turned on his heel and walked out the door just as Roy looked at the top page to see a doodled picture of dog lifting his leg to what was probably the representation of the Colonel on fire. Which by all means wasn't really an explanation of why Ed hated him, as it was a metaphorical threat of what he'd like to do to him.

* * *

A/n BLAST! that's the shortest one yet. Sorry folks! Last chapter will be longest! 


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** Right... in a way I feel it is necessary for me to inform the masses of my complete and utter lack of rights towards this show, but I think this would be best expressed through interpretive dance. ….frolics onto stage….

…. Bows….

…..music plays…

…………….

……………………………….fifteen minutes later

Well I think that just about covers it!

* * *

**Chapter 8**

* * *

"I think they'll be happy that we're coming back so soon…"

Ed looked up to Al and smiled, "Yeah, I don't think Winry thought we'd be coming back at all."

Al laughed lightly, "We don't really stick to our word… do we?"

"Not lately."

They were walking up the dirt road to the Rockbell house, and Ed was feeling quite proud of himself that he was putting otherwise important business off, just to get back and…he thought for a moment… why was he coming back? A voice in his head told him he was coming back to make sure Winry's auto-mail surgery went well. There was another voice though, that said the same thing only with a hint of something else he couldn't quite put his finger on. He reassured himself though that he really needed the break.

They came up to the front porch, and saw Pinako outside smoking her pipe.

Ed waved, "Hey granny!"

She smirked, "Hey shorty."

Ed growled, but kept himself from yelling back, it was probably payback for calling her granny.

Before they could get to the door, Winry ran out to hug the both of them. Which surprised Ed to no end. He usually received a wrench in the head upon his arrival.

"You seem happy…" he noticed that her bear arm now had an auto-mail dock.

She smiled brightly, "I'm getting my auto-mail today!"

Ed sighed, yep, that'd do it, "That's great,"

Somehow her smile managed to grow, "I'm glade that you and Al could come back so soon too…" She looked a bit disbelieving though, like she was suspicious of their motives, thinking that perhaps there work was actually some place near by. What other reason would they have to come back so soon? Even though she was getting her auto-mail, it just wasn't like Ed to put off work.

Ed looked away from Winry's questioning glare to smile at Pinako, "So, what's for lunch?"

She snorted, "If I didn't know better, I would think the only reason you come here is for the food…"

Al sighed, missing the taste of that food more than ever.

Inside Ed shoveled a rice dish into his mouth, trying to avoid Winry's glare, as Pinako enlightened them on a few things that were going on around town; at which point, everyone stopped listening.

Once Ed was finished he stood up with a deep breath, "I think I'm gonna take a walk, I'll be back before you get your arm though" He smiled to Winry.

"In that case… can I come with you?"

His face faltered, "I guess so…" he looked to Al, "You coming too?"

"No, I was thinking about going to Nelly's and catching up." (a/n for those of you who don't remember, she was one of Al's friends that he couldn't remember)

Ed's smile threatened to fall, "oh… then I guess it's just you and me" He turned to Winry with one of these smiles  and rubbed the back of his head.

"And Den" Winry looked down at the dog who had a pleading look on his face.

Somehow Ed wasn't that comforted.

* * *

The sun was starting to set and they still hadn't said anything to each other. Walking along the river, it was actually a nice silence; Ed liked it better than having to really talk. But Winry finally broke it with a downcast mumble.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened…"

Ed had to strain his ears with what she said, "Really? You don't have to,"

"No… I think I should." She took a deep breath, "I can only remember one time I've ever been that scared, I think you know it too."

Ed knew she was referring to the butcher they had both encountered those years ago.

"I was blindfolded the whole way to his house, and when I got there, everything seemed so unreal. Then we went down to the basement and I found his wife… it was horrible Ed…" She swallowed back tears, "it looked like she had been bleeding for days,"

Ed's breath caught in his throat, he hadn't assumed that Leaning would do that to his wife, even though he was probably the one to chop off her leg in the first place. But to let her go without hospital care?

"There was a girl there… but she left shortly after I came, and I had to do the whole surgery on my own." Her eyes glazed over a little, "I've never done anything like that before. I didn't even have painkillers for her," She rubbed her shaking hands and tried not to let the images in her mind get too detailed, "Before I left she said something about money, and someone named Charles. I think…" her voice broke, "I think her husband was the one that took her leg."

A few tears trickled down her cheeks and Ed tried not to look, he couldn't imagine how it had been for her by herself.

"Who would do that to their own wife?" anger laced through her sadness.

Ed scowled, he could think of a few people who would do that, and he realized how many horrible people he had met throughout his life. He decided it was better he not tell Winry about Lin.

He stopped walking and turned to Winry, happy that she was standing on a downhill to him, making them generally the same height, "It's over now, and Leaning got what he deserved,"

With her head down she let her shoulders shake, she didn't know why she was getting so worked up over it now, maybe it was just the release of telling someone. She was nearly shocked out of her sadness when Ed pulled her towards him to hug her in the most comforting way he could manage. He rested his head on top of hers and closed his eyes appreciating that it was probably the only time he would be able to, thanks to the fortunate way the river path dropped down.

She was stunned for a moment; Ed had never tried to comfort anyone like this before, at least not to her knowledge. But once she recovered from the shock she relaxed into the embrace, she should take advantage of a good thing.

After a little while Ed pulled away with a smile, "Under the conditions you did amazingly, Mrs. Leaning looked like she was handling the new leg comfortably."

Winry's smile was the brightest that day, she had been worried about that, "What happened there?"

He sighed and started walking back towards the house, "I went and tried to question him, if I couldn't figure out what happened to you from you, I was going to figure it out from him. He admitted to a few things but his wife stopped us from fighting. Someone else showed up though… they killed him before I knew what happened."

Ed heard the quick intake of breath from Winry, she wasn't used to death and murder as much as he was.

"Oh…"

* * *

By the time they got back to the house Pinako was in a huff.

"I thought you two were going to be back by now! We should have attached Winry's arm a while ago."

The both gave her a guilty stare.

She sighed, "Go upstairs to your room and get ready, I'll be up in a minute with the arm."

Winry trudged up to her room and left Ed and Pinako in the kitchen.

"Where's Al?"

"I think he's outside somewhere, he was waiting for you to come back, but I think he fell asleep."

Ed stretched his arms and yawned, "good. I wanted to ask you something…"

She lifted a brow, "Hmm?"

"I was wondering if I could attach Winry's arm?" the idea had come to him on the walk and it seemed right, figures that he should be the one to give her the arm after all the auto-mail work she had done on him. (a/n don't look at me like that.)

Pinako took a long drag of her pipe and puffed out the smoke, "I don't see why not, you know how to do it, she would probably like that." She smiled and shuffled off to get the arm. When she brought it back Ed felt the weight of it in his hands, it looked and felt more or less like his.

He walked up to Winry's room and opened the door slowly. She looked surprised and a little confused to see him.

"Pinako said I could attach the arm," he rubbed the back of his neck with nervousness, and tried not to look at Winry sitting on her bed, "Do you want to go downstairs on the couch? That's where we usually attach my limbs," he laughed ironically.

"No, I'm more comfortable up here. I'll probably spend the rest of the day in bed too, might as well do it up here." (a/n I told you not to look at me like that)

Ed grabbed a stool in the cluttered room and pulled it over to the bed. He set the arm down and another idea flashed through his mind, "Would you let me do something to the arm? If you don't like it I can change it back…"

She looked uncertain for a moment, but nodded.

Ed thought for a few minutes and seemed to make up his mind. He clapped and placed his hands on the steel, and watched as a wave of light transformed it. When he was finished, a steel arm lay on the bed looking so real you would have thought someone had dipped a real arm into quicksilver. The fingers were overlaid plats making them naturally flexible, and since it attached at her elbow it looked more like a glove than anything.

Winry gasped and traced her fingers over the smoothness of it. It was shaped amazingly like her real arm.

"If you need to do any maintenance on it, all of the screws are hidden under plats that will come up with a magnet since I changed those parts into iron."

She could hardly find words for what she wanted to say, she was more confused than anything though, "Why haven't you ever done this to your own arm?"

He shrugged, "You'd kill me if I tried to change it… besides," he flexed his fingers, "I like it. I couldn't imagine seeing you with something like this though, your arms should stay the way they're supposed to look." He smiled warmly, and his eyes flashed, "Wait… one more thing." He tapped his fingers together and traced them through the upturned palm of the hand on the bed, leaving behind the symbol of his teacher (a/n the cross with the snake thingy)

Winry smiled, she had always thought auto-mail was beautiful, but this was different; certainly not auto-mail, but something she almost liked more for different reasons, "I love it."

Ed was more than surprised; he was expecting to be yelled at more than anything, figuring that it would be the thought that counted in the end, "wanna try it on then?"

Her smile was a bit strained this time, "We better get it over with," She took a deep breath and braced herself as Ed lifted the arm.

"I'm sorry,"

Thinking that he was apologizing for the pain he was about to cause her, she couldn't began to explain the shock she had with what came next.

Before either of them had much time to think, Ed caught her in a kiss. For a second Ed was amazed with what he was doing, and the realization of how long he had actually wanted to and had just not noticed it before. He was even more surprised when she returned it; leaning deeper into it he nearly pushed Winry down on her bed. Before he got lost in what he was doing and forgot one of the reasons why he was doing it though, he attached Winry's arm. He chocked on her scream and nearly lost his lower lip when she bit down in pain. She pulled away to continue her scream and bite her own lip. But Ed wouldn't let her linger in her pain for long as he caught her lips again.

Figures that their first kiss would be so painful and soothing at the same time, but at least it had the desired effect; Winry had nearly forgotten her pain by the time they pulled away from each other.

Both of them beat red; they didn't say anything for a while, as their brains tried to catch up to what happened.

Finally Ed stood up and shuffled a bit, "I should go… auntie will want to know how it went…"

Winry blinked and nodded as she starred up at her ceiling; lying down on her bed with her legs over the side, she still felt a little speechless, "mmhmm"

(a/n . )

Downstairs Pinako's eyes followed Ed as he made his way to the front door to go wake up Al, "Well?" she asked

He stopped in his tracks, "Oh yeah, she's doing fine, the connection was easier than I thought it was going to be" in more ways than one apparently.

"That's good, I was hoping you would be able to make it easier on her,"

"Yeah" he really had to leave, "You should go up and check on her though… I'll be outside with Al" with that he was out the door, and in the yard before Pinako had a chance to say anything more.

Outside Ed found Al leaning against the house, his eyes dark with sleep, "Al?"

His eyes glowed, "Hmm?"

"You should probably get inside, it might rain tonight and I don't want you rusting."

"Oh, right." He came to a noisy stand, "Your lip's bleeding, what happened?"

Ed's hand shot up to feel his lip and was surprised to find blood on his fingers when he brought his hand down. He hadn't thought Winry had bitten down that hard, "Heh… you know Winry and her wrenches…" well that was a fantastically crappy excuse.

Al managed to look like he was smiling wryly, "What did you do this time?"

He could hear someone laughing ironically in his head as he desperately fumbled for an answer, until he settled for being as vague as possible, "You know… the usual" _Smooth _said the voice sarcastically. For a moment he wondered why he felt so jittery about the whole ordeal, until the voice in his head started to laugh again, and he decided not to think about it.

As soon as they walked back into the kitchen, Pinako kicked Ed in the shin.

"What did you do to my auto-mail?"

Ed rubbed his leg, "What do you mean?" then he thought for a second… oh.

"Winry's arm! You've—"

Ed held up his hands to stop her, "Everything's the same, I just changed the outside. Winry liked it…"

"I don't care, you could have at least asked me before you did it,"

"Well, it was kind of an 'in the moment' thing."

Al looked between them, thoroughly confused.

Pinako sighed, "Well what's done is done, if there's any problems with it later on, I hope you know that I'll blame you entirely." She shuffled around and disappeared into another room.

Al twiddled his fingers, "What did you do?"

Ed looked up, "I only performed a little alchemy on Winry's auto-mail, and you would think I had turned it into wood or something with the way she was acting."

"You should know not to mess with aunties things though…"

"I just wanted to do something for Winry. It's her decision if she wants to keep it or not."

Al was curious to ask what exactly Ed had done, but he decided against it. He would just have to see tomorrow.

* * *

O,O ok, that's it… THINGY is a word! Who the hell gives this program its dictionary? Ya wanna know the synonyms for it? Of course you do. Thing, Thingamajig, thingamabob, doodad, gizmo, and doohickey! Sorry, folks, just had to let that vent… I always enjoy it when I come across things like that on Microsoft Word. I swear my computer is southern though… it's grammar is absolutely horrible! 


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** Well finally, and for the last time, I DON"T OWN THIS SHOW! _sniffs_ but I did write this fic, and that amounts to something... doesn't it? Doesn't it? _sob_

* * *

**Chapter 9**

* * *

It was raining, like it always rains in Rizenbull; darkly, often warmly, but always with the promise that it would only make things more beautiful. Ed had used to hate the rain; it always seemed to remind him of that first day, the day that started everything. But now, as he watched it stream down the windows, he realized that he actually liked it, if not respected it. It had been there to wash away their mistakes and cry when they couldn't, it had been there the first day they had met their teacher, and it seemed to show up on the best of days as well as the worst. Ed liked it, because it didn't seem to have a side. 

He threw on his jacket and left the house without telling anyone where he was going, or stopping to answer the questions of his brother or his auntie, Winry still hadn't gotten out of bed yet.

He walked down the muddy street in his soaking clothes, and tried to embrace the fact that he wasn't going to be able to do anything about his hair being plastered to his forehead. He wasn't quite sure where he was going, but he felt he needed to be out in the rain. He needed to think.

What was he doing? Why did he have to go and do something like this _now_? Why couldn't he have waited for everything to be over with, so he could be free to have a long life back in Rizenbull with Winry? At the present moment, he was never quite sure when his last day was going to be, or what would happen if people knew about the other people he loved. When Lust had just mentioned Winry in passing he felt like his world crumbled away a bit, and he had to extend yet another limb to hold it up. But if he kept doing that, he took away from the strength of his other limbs, protecting Winry took away from him protecting Al, and at the moment… he couldn't decide which one needed it more.

Ed looked up from his feet when he felt someone approaching down the road. The figure was long and dark, and held the presence of a snake.

"Do you enjoy the rain?" slippery words came out of a dark lipped mouth.

Seeing that Lust was the only one there, Ed let himself relax a little, she was never like the others. "I'm not sure either way…"

"Hmph" She shrugged and looked over the farmland, "Me neither. I like dry weather much more, but rain always seems to attract me…"

"Did you just find me to talk about the weather, or was there something else?"

"I was just wondering how long you were planning on staying in this quaint little village, don't you have a stone to make?"

Ed held back the urge to sneer, and decided to stay looking indifferent, "What do you care?"

She looked to him with a knowing glare, "The strings on you are getting a little looser than expected, I'm just here to get you dancing properly again."

"You sound like someone else I know." The difference between being a puppet and a dog was starting to get a little blurry, "I suppose you can't tell me what Frederic had to do with anything?"

She sighed, "I already told you, he wasn't needed anymore, and we saw that he was going to give us… difficulties in the future."

Ed snorted, "I think you were worried that he was the only one who could get rid of Gluttony…"

She looked to the side again, "That's only part of the reason. Mr. Leaning failed to retrieve what we wanted, people who fail in our line of work, tend to die."

So they were making Frederic create the Philosophers Stone. Ed sighed, he was tired of finding those people, they always ended up dead, and he was beginning to wonder how close behind them he was. "Well it was nice talking, but if you don't mind, I would like to continue my walk." He passed her with a brush of his jacket, and cast his eyes down once again.

"You should know that protecting the ones you love will only exhaust and weaken you, it slows you down from your goal, and makes you forget the things that are truly important. I've seen many people die because of love Fullmetal, take my advice and finish what you started as soon as you can. If you let the ones you love slow you down, you'll never be able to keep them safe."

Ed swallowed her words and continued walking, even though she was right, the people he loved were the ones who started everything to begin with, to take his eyes off them, would be to look away from the goal. But Winry was different, she had nothing to do with anything, and he knew protecting her would only serve to distract him. If he just kept her out of everything, he wouldn't have to protect her at all… but what did that mean?

He jumped over the short stonewall along the road and sat down in the grass on the other side, using the stones for support as he closed his eyes and tried to only think about the rain.

* * *

"What do you mean 'he just left'? He didn't say where he was going?" Winry frowned at the two expressionless faces before her. When they didn't say anything she decided to continue, "It's raining! Who goes out in the rain without an umbrella?" 

"I think a lot of people do…" Al added the only thing he could think of.

"That's not the point…"

Pinako sighed, "If you're that worried, go looking for him."

"I'm not worried! I'm just… I'm just annoyed! He never lets anyone know anything" she grumbled and stomped over to the door swinging on her black jacket and grabbing a black umbrella from a hook, "And _that's _why I'm going looking for him"

"Because you're annoyed?" Al questioned.

"Because I want to yell at him!" Winry opened the door and slammed it shut behind her, making sure to scream over her shoulder one last time before she was out of earshot, "And I don't feel like an escort. I'll be fine on my own, so if you don't mind I would like to be ALONE!" she knew if she didn't say it she would have Al after her in a second. She didn't blame him either, but if she didn't find Ed, she liked the idea of taking a walk on her own.

She felt the weight of the umbrella in her new hand and once again marveled at how real it looked. She could sift through the entire country and not find another person with an arm like hers. She was still getting over the surprise that Ed had done something like that for her, and the more she thought about it, the more she liked it.

The rain padding down on her umbrella let her get lost in simpler thoughts, until the only thing filling her head was the sound of rain. It was a beautiful day, why couldn't more people see that in rain? Even though she hated lighting, and strong storms, she had nothing against rain… it always felt comforting to her.

After a little longer of walking she stopped in her tracks. She saw a pair of red-bottomed boots sprouting out from the other side of a stonewall, and knew it really couldn't be anyone else.

Ed opened his eyes when the rain falling down on him suddenly stopped, but the sound of it didn't, he looked up to see a pair of legs swinging over the stones, and a moment later found Winry sitting next to him; close enough so they could share the umbrella.

"Beautiful day for a walk, isn't it?" Winry looked out over the dark and misty land

He smiled at her smile and found himself unusually happy with her company, "Apparently."

She turned to him, "You left before I could thank you properly… for the arm." She held the auto-mail up and smiled warmly at the red symbol in her palm.

"Auntie didn't yell at you for letting me do it?" he watched her fingers move smoothly and was a little surprised by his own work.

"She was a little huffy, but that's understandable. When I explained to her that it was like carrying around a piece of my two favorite people, she got all quiet and started bossing Al around making him cook."

Ed's eyes shifted a little, he hadn't thought about that. When his eyes wandered back to her he saw her brow furrowed.

"Did I do that?"

"Wha…?"

She lifted her hand up but pulled her fingers back to resist the urge to touch his lip, "Your lip…"

Ed's own hand came up to feel the cut gently, "It's ok, I've been through worse," he smiled widely.

But Winry only frowned and looked down, "You're going to have to leave again, aren't you?"

Ed sighed, it always came back to this, "You know that I have to continue what I'm doing; I can't just stop."

"I suppose we can't continue like this either…"

"Winry it's not—"

"And you're probably going to tell me it's because you don't want to put me in danger, you can't always protect me, you can't take me along with you," her voice started to shake a little, "You can't possibly stay with me because once it comes down to it, I'll only ever be in the way!" She was surprised by how fast she was getting worked up, she had promised herself that she would be able to handle herself calmly when it came to this, "And I don't know if—" she stopped because suddenly Ed's gloved auto-mail hand was in her hair holding her head and he was leaned over her for a kiss.

The kiss was soft and reassuring, and when he pulled away Winry could tell it was reluctantly.

He brought one of his knees up to rest his arm on, and looked away. He figured the kiss would be enough of a reply.

"So every time you leave, I'll just be here waiting for you again, worried that every time I see you is going to be the last because every time you come back you look like you've been in a war.

"It's not as if we can't enjoy being together before I come back for good! I'm just a train ride away…"

She was getting tired of sighing so she chocked back her breath, "But we'll never be relaxed."

He smiled at the misty world and the hum of rain, "We're relaxed now…"

Her lip twitched wanting to smile, and she let herself fall onto his shoulder, letting the umbrella dip and rest on the stones behind them. "Might as well keep it that way…"

(a/n I was thinking about ending it here considering it's such a cute scene, but figured I needed to tie off a few loose ends and give you another fluffy scene before everything's over . )

* * *

Ed held his eyes closed tightly before he opened them, and let his ears register the sound of crickets. Had he fallen asleep? He was slumped down further than he remembered and could feel the unpleasant presence of a knotted back and an achy neck. He was distracted from the pain a minute later when he realized the weight on his chest was Winry curled up half on him and half on the grass. Her auto-mail hand was rested on his chest next to her head and open mouth. He couldn't tell where her other hand was though. 

He kept himself from laughing and whispered quietly, "We really have to stop waking up like this…"

Winry stirred, mumbled something incoherent, nuzzled deeper into his chest, and fell back into her dreams.

Ed blushed a little, still not really used to being this close to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly, "Auntie will get worried."

She mumbled again, something about 'warm' and something else about 'steel' and then 'golden eyes'. Ed wasn't sure if she was talking about auto-mail or him, but she was still dreaming.

He tried again, "Winry?"

She blinked a few times, realized what she was lying on again, and shuffled up quickly, "Yeah… I'm up." She sniffed, and seemed to be completely awake now.

"We should get back before auntie sends out Den."

She shuffled some more and stood up; stretching her back and picking up the umbrella, "I—yeah."

Ed kept himself from smiling at her stutter, wondering what she had been planning to say, but just shook his shoulders out and stood up.

Winry frowned, "You're still soaking…"

"Hm?" he felt his jacket and wondered why he hadn't gotten cold, he was still pretty soggy. He clapped his hands and a second later he was perfectly dry, "are you wet at all?"

"Just my skirt a little from the grass, but I'll be fine. We should just get home."

"Yeah."

* * *

Between Pinako and her pipe and Al pulling off an odd look of suspicion, both Ed and Winry would have rather been anywhere but the kitchen. 

"We just felt like staying out in the rain…" Ed shifted uncomfortably

"Mmhmm." Pinako let out a breath of smoke.

Winry rolled her eyes, "I'll be in the workroom."

Ed smiled nervously, "I'll be—"

"You're coming with me." Winry said

"—with her…"

In the workroom Winry walked over to a small table in the corner with a white sheet over it, and what looked like a pile of things under it.

"You're going to be leaving tomorrow… aren't you?"

Ed shifted his gaze and looked over his shoulder, "Yeah…"

"Then I want you to see this so you have something to come back for."

"I have plenty to come back for." He smiled

"Well a bit more wont hurt," She pulled the sheet off the table, and underneath, beside tools and metal files, was a steel arm. It looked almost exactly like the arm Ed had created for Winry just a but more sloppy, "I was surprised that you remade my arm when I've been doing the same thing for you. Auntie thinks it's ridiculous that I'm changing auto-mail like this, she says it's not meant to look so real, that a lot of people like that 'not so human' look. But I just wanted to see if I could do it… and I thought that maybe if I made it real enough… human enough… you might… might…" her voice cracked a little.

"You know I still have to return Al to his body though…" it's the thought that counts though, he thought. She wants so badly to bring him back home for good.

With her head down her shoulders shook a little.

His hand outlined her arm without touching it, until he came to her auto-mail and grabbed her hand turning it palm up, "Thank you… it's beautiful."

She looked up, happier than she thought she'd be with his appreciation "Next time you come back, it'll be finished. I want to make it as good as you made mine."

He brushed his real fingers over the symbol on her palm; happy to know that she at least had it's protection, "When I come back."

Pinako's voice carried across the house, "Are you two coming for dinner or would you like that I serve it to you in there?"

Both Ed and Winry sighed.

"I could bring candles too, if you want to complete the mood." Her voice was joking, but they blushed anyways.

Ed laughed a little, "I'll miss that."

Winry laughed as well, "you wouldn't if you lived with her…"

"We'll see."

She smiled with the implication. He would come back… when it was all over… he would come back to the house… to her.

* * *

Well, that's all folks! Sorry about all the fluffiness towards the end, and some slight OOCness, I was just figuring that that's probably how they would act if they got together. I hope you all liked it, and I hope you all tell me what you think! 

If I get enough "happy people" reviews, I might consider making a sequel to this after the movie comes out, gets subbed, and I see it I would like to see what I could do with it, and make all the edXwin fans happy if the movie doesn't. If you like the idea of that, let me know, because I do need encouragement . I promise that it will be longer though.

So tah tah for now, and keep an eye out for the FMA movie, because I'll probably be following close behind.

If you're one of the people who doesn't like the idea of me making another story because this one was so horribly sickening, and a complete waste of however many hours you spent reading it. Then tough…


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